


What's Eating You

by Katstories



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 02:27:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8427724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katstories/pseuds/Katstories
Summary: A lovely nightmare I had which gave me the screaming heeby jeebies one night.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A pleasant little stroll though nightmares just for you.  
> I'm a big fan of wordy mood writing, so sorry if it's a little involved.

Shadows flicker and dance across crumbling, moldy brick. Subtle sounds whispering down the length of the sewer tunnel echo and reverberate. The burbling of runoff swirling its way towards the dark unknown; drops, plops and the occasional scratch of insects and rats scurrying across the brick and mortar walls. A low miasma crawls thick and lazy over the waterways and stone pathways poorly guarding the walls of the tunnel. 

Four turtles made no sound as they traverse their way through the cloying fog, dim torchlight illuminating their path. Michelangelo quietly watches the eddies and swirls of the fog left in the wake of their steps. His usual smile fades for a moment as he contemplates the murky river of shadow. "Um, dudes, so why is it so dark?" Mikey whispers, unsure how loud he should be, something of the place unnerves him.

“We only have the two flashlights Mikey.” Donnie whispers in reply, postulating on the reasons behind the inky blackness about them, “there’s no underground lights, we’re deeper than the usual subway tunnels.” He pauses a moment, halting their forward progress. “Actually I have no idea why the fog isn't reflecting the light and it should be." And he bends over to peer intently at the miasma swirling about their legs, causing Leo to inadvertently bump into him.

Leo taps Donnie on the shoulder, bringing the genius’s focus to the task at hand, moving. “Uh, Donnie, can we keep moving, no log jams in the sewers please." Leo’s flashlight flickers momentarily and he irritatedly slaps his hand against its casing, trying to keep it from expiring. The only two flashlights they managed to find and neither of them is working properly.

Mikey snickers and whisperers conspiratorly to Raph, "log jam," and giggles again. Raph smirks at the joke and playfully bops Mikey in the shoulder.

Honestly, Raph had been hoping for a break in the silence, it had been too quiet, the levels of silence unnerving. Their comfortable usual background noise, water running through pipes, and the rumble of subway cars was muted, nonexistent actually. Not that Raph would admit it, but the silence and this ridiculously creepy sense about their current location that was getting under his skin. Raph wasn’t going to complain; that would have made him sound like a wuss, so he kept the questions and developing sense of dread to himself.

Raph own light glints briefly to the crumbling tunnel walls, searching for the way out. He pauses, why were they searching down here anyway? Raph couldn't seem to remember why they had come here in the first place and then what had happened, had they gotten lost? 

"So, Donnie." Raph speaks only to stutter to a stop as his light catches something on the opposite wall. The sudden involuntary gasp from Raph draws almost everyone’s attention and unerringly Leo’s light finds the opposite wall where Raph's beam shines. 

"This is really strange, I mean if it was water vapor, then we would have a low reflective illumination." Donnie placed his fingers into the haze and rubs them together, attempting to feel the texture of the mist. "It seems like water, it doesn't have an oily texture and it's not adhering to us." 

"Donnie!" Leo’s strangled shout startles Donnie, and Leo grabs the genius by the arm, practically dragging him to look in the direction of Raph's spotlight. Unerringly, Donnie and Mikey's gaze hone in on Raph's illuminated patch of wall. A second sound of terror escapes Raph's lips and he shivers uncontrollably for a moment.

"Oh my." Donnie breathes.

Webs, hundreds of thousands of silky sticky strands run the length and breadth of the walls and ceilings. Leo’s flashlight tracks the illuminated silk down the tunnels in front of them, to the sides and behind. How did it get behind? Mikey laughs, more of a squeak really and pulls on Leo's arm, "heh, looks like Spiderbites has been busy, time to go.” Even Mikey’s usual nature is disturbed by the amount of webs, his eyes darting about looking for the giant obnoxious mutant spider.

"I don't think Spiderbites did this Mikey.” Donnie muses, “his webbing is much thicker and has a greenish color." Donnie advances toward the closest strands, pulling a tongue depressor from one of his many belt pockets. "This looks like normal webbing," he touches the stick to a few strands pulling them from the web and touches the strands gently, rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger. "Feels like standard spider webbing as well," he looks up, "there’s just so much of it." . 

"OK guys...” Raph clears his throat after a rather high-pitched start, "we need to go back down the tunnel we came from and just head on out. Nothing further to see here, lets go." He turns slightly, waving his hands for his brothers to follow. His steps are timed carefully to show he's still in control and obviously not running in terror for his life. 

Leo looks at Raph with some concern, "Raph, we can't go that way, the tunnels blocked, remember?" Raph swallows hard and licks his lips, no, he doesn't remember the tunnel being blocked, he still can't figure out what the shell they were doing down here in the first place. "Well, we should try digging ourselves out, you know that would just be safer than going forward." Raph insists.

Donnie of course, laughs at that. "Yea right. Look meathead, I know you’re stronger than the rest of us; but there’s no way we’re making it back though the tunnel collapse. It's forward or nothing." The smirk climbing across Donnie's face shows the gap between his teeth. "Aw come on Raph, it's only some itty bitty spiders, remember they eat roaches, their good bugs." 

Raph shudders again. "Yea, good bugs." He struggles to say.

Leo taps Raph on the shoulder, "come on man, this way," and jabs his thumb down the tunnel draped in webs. Leo sweeps his flashlight in a searching arc, whether looking for another way out, or for the residents of the webs, even he’s not entirely sure. He just knows they need to find a way out before Raph looses it. Heck, before any of them loose it. 

"Don't worry bro, I'll keep an eye out with you, no bugs getting past Mikey!" Mikey beams, teeth glowing in the weak light. He winks and elbows Raph in the arm, ignoring the involuntary flinch it generates. “Just think dude, we get home, a few rounds of Mazes & Mutants and finish off that gummy bear, jalapeno, shrimp and ham pizza!”

“Yea, right, of course…. Good bugs.” Raph takes a deep breath and seems to steady himself. Can’t loose it in front of his brothers, not again, that sort of teasing is just another reason for him to loose his cool. That water over stone thing only works for so long before he finds a reason to pound someone into the pavement.

Leo takes point, flickering flashlight throwing exaggerated shadows across the webs. He guides his team forward, marching at a steady pace to keep them moving as much to keep his owns fears at bay. The further they go, the more the walls reminding him of dusty ancient catacombs, with monsters laying wait. He shakes his head, sternly reminding himself to not watch classic horror movies with Mikey again.

 

The attack comes out of nowhere. Webs spitting out of the darkness encasing, yanking backwards, terrified screaming suddenly cut off in silence. 

Pulled downward, beak hitting the walkway and then yanked upwards howling into shadows.

He’s it, the only one left, arms already pinned, he thought if the thing could breathe through a mouth he would swear there was foul breath on his cheek. Binding his arms brings the head so close, the only way out, he turns his head catching a reflection of himself in the eight eyes he screams, opens his mouth and bites down. Eyeballs pop and foul fluids gush into his mouth and the creature flails backwards into the darkness, screaming in its own way. Released, he plummets downwards.

Raphael’s retching before he even hits the floor. Unable to get a grip as his hands splash into his vomit, he sprawls across the stone. He’s screaming, flailing about trying to get the webbing off of him, to find the flashlight, to find his brothers, to, to…

 

The bedroom door bangs open and Leo flicks on the light switch. He rushes over to his thrashing brother, trying like hell not to slip on the puddle of vomit splashed under the hammock. 

“Raph, RAPH! Wake up, Raph, wake up!” Leo unwraps the blanket from about Raphael’s twitching body. He’d find it humorous if it wasn’t for the fact that Raphael was still screaming about spiders and being eaten.

“What’s going on?” Donnie appears at the doorway, with Michelangelo right behind him hands rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“I don’t know, I think he had a nightmare.” Leo pulls the blanket away and Raphael lunges at him bowling Leonardo over. 

“You’re OK! They didn’t eat you!” Raphael pulls Leo into a bone crushing hug nuzzling into Leo’s neck. Leo grimaces, fully aware of the puke adorning Raph’s arms and plastron, but more than happy to comfort his usually gruff sibling. 

“Yes Raph, we’re safe. We’re all safe.” Leo rubs comforting circles on Raph’s shell trying to calm his trembling brother down.

Raphael seems to fully awaken in the comforting arms of his brother. Aware of a terrible taste in his mouth and a disgusting warm slimy stickiness to his skin, he slowly peels himself off of Leo. Sitting backwards he looks about, taking note of Donnie and Mikey just at the edge of his room, Leo sitting partially in a puddle of vomit the barest hit of a smile on his lips. Aw fuck this is embarrassing. 

“I had a horrible nightmare, about giant spiders capturing us and they were going to eat us!” Raphael face turns greener than normal, “I dreamt I bit one in the face to get away.” He looks down at Leo and his spew coated plastrons, he looks sheepish. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine Raph, we’ve all been there.” Donnie replies casting his eyes about the room, specifically over Raph’s hammock, “Things in our life are bound to give us nightmares.”

“Yea, I mean I still have nightmares about Squirrelanoids!” Michelangelo adds in cheerfully and then shudders at the though.

Leo ducks his head and puts a steadying hand on Raph’s shoulder. “At least it was just a dream. Come on let’s get some towels and clean this up and then clean ourselves off.” Leo gently pulls Raph to his feet and they cautiously pass by Mikey and Don on the way to the bathroom. Leo looks over his shoulder, “shows over guys, head back to bed, training at regular time.” 

Mikey groans in protest and stumbles back towards his room he mutters, “night Donnie,” as he closes his door.

Donnie walks further into Raph’s room; looking closely but avoiding the stinking puddle on the floor he then strains his eyes upwards. He stretches, raises his arm and carefully swipes it back and forth yard or so above the hammock. He grimaces and rubs his fingers together, thin sticky strands of spider web cling to his hand. He looks at Raph’s hammock and glances at the floor again. He shivers, turns and walks back towards his own room, thinking it’s better off Raph not know. Thinking over new plans for a better insect extermination process in the lair. It’s better in the long run, even if the spiders do eat the roaches. None of his other brothers needed to have an unexpected nocturnal snack.


End file.
